Private-Practice Nurses

Like many nurses, Lucille Kinlein, 51, considered hospital work
restrictive. Frustrated by lack of authority, she felt that a nurse
functioned as a mere tool of the physician. Unlike most nurses, she
decided to do something about it. In May 1971, she rented an office in
suburban College Park, Md., and hung out her shingle as one of the
nation's first independent nurse-practitioners.

Nurse Kinlein's practice is more limited than a doctor's. Because she is
not a physician, she will not diagnose major illnesses or prescribe
medication; nor does she read X rays or set fractures. But she can
still bring the...